1:20
All the promises of God are yes in Christ. What does this mean? It means that all God’s promises in the Old Testament are fulfilled in and through Christ. The focus of God’s message is Christ, and this is to the glory of God. There are two things that are going on, and Paul recognises this. The most obvious and immediate is the attack on Paul himself, and Paul addresses this as far he feels he needs to, and he will continue to do this at other points in the letter. But behind this is a very worldly view of things. The Corinthians were impressed by human glory, they were too ready to judge or assess things in human terms. This was something that Paul countered to some extent in his first letter, but is something that is still having an effect here. They were looking at things that men do, and looking at men’s glory. Instead they should have been focusing on what God had done and was doing in Christ, and looking at God’s glory.
1:21,22
It is God who makes us stand. Again we need the proper balance. Yes Paul was important, the work you or I do for Christ is important. The times that we have benefitted from the work of others is important, and Paul gives proper acknowledgement and appreciation of this in a number of his letters. But there is no man who enables you or I to stand firm in Christ, it is God who enables us to stand. He is the One who anointed us and set His seal (the Holy Spirit) upon us. We belong to Him, we are owned by God. His Spirit is the guarantee of what is to come. We need to have the correct focus, and that is to be focused on Christ.
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